Boldness and capacity for innovation are key to a successful business. But creativity, readiness for action and professionalism are also indispensable if ideas are to become marketable products. This has long been recognised by Silhouette, along with the power of Tony Buzan’s mind mapping methods.

The secret behind mind mapping is to harness the way the human mind works by using both sides of the brain to their maximum capacities. This means combining visual and textual information to help improve creativity and efficiency. In turn, this is invaluable to companies, including Silhouette.

The Solution

In order to foster the potential of employees in its various departments, Silhouette rolled out MindManager, the leading mind mapping tool, around 10 years ago. The aim was not only to focus on creativity in product development, but also for other departments to take advantage of the tool’s visual presentation.

“We use mind mapping methods to present complex subjects, organise our daily workload and carry out projects,” says Thomas Stadler, Project Office at Silhouette International. “MindManager is therefore used at Silhouette in a variety of ways and in a wide range of company departments.”

With 150 licences, Silhouette’s Production department is a particularly intensive user of the software. First of all, it was about brainstorming, mapping out connections and documenting meetings. It then quickly became clear that MindManager is also an outstanding project management tool. “If you sort content and resources, assign priorities, define timings and subsequently generate a task list, you will have a highly pragmatic project management solution at your disposal,” says Mr Stadler.

The Outcome

The project management software that was used in Production has been abolished and replaced with MindManager. Employees appreciate both the flexibility of the programme and the fact that it is so simple to switch between content and immediately view any connections. Resource planning, the traffic light function and use of project templates are included, as well as the creation of Gantt charts. Users are also enthusiastic about the note function, the easy integration of links and documents, and the significance of the milestones.

In addition to project work, MindManager also serves as a central platform for coordination processes, such as at international meetings thomas stadler, Project Office with the various sales offices. “The way the at Silhouette International Schmied AG software is structured is fantastic,” Mr Stadler believes, “which means we always have the same great result at meetings. This comes in very handy when discussing a new price list or a modification to a glasses model with 12 countries in 5 different languages, for example.”